


That Depends On You

by GhostCrumpet



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Gen, MerMay, Mermaids, Pre-Relationship, Sirens, Steve Roger's Good Hearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2018-11-05 22:10:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11022597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostCrumpet/pseuds/GhostCrumpet
Summary: From a prompt:Darcy is secretly a mermaid and Steve finds out when he heads down to the pool (saltwater, oc) early and catches Darcy stretching her fins when she thinks she's alone





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChrissiHR](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrissiHR/gifts).



> Thank you for the prompt Chrissi! My little contribution to Mermay :)

Everything hurt. Right down to the web of skin between his toes. He ached, and about thirty minutes prior he’d been covered in the slimy-remains of decomposing exoskeleton... that had belonged to a guy named Everest Hampdon.

Mr. Hampdon was no more, along with his mutated exoskeleton that he’d used to rip through half of Harlem. Steve Rogers wasn’t ashamed to admit that the thrill of battle certainly got his blood going from time to time, and this was one time that he was more than happy to put the bad guy six feet under.

If only the fight hadn’t lasted a good three four hours, and hadn’t made his whole body feel like absolute, aching shit.

The only thing keeping him upright after his scrub down in the showers, was the promise of Tony’s newly installed, heated, salt-water pool on the fiftieth floor. With a view of the city that inspired the artist in him, and enough warmed water to soak himself up to his eyeballs in.

With his sketchpad tucked under his arm, and one of the extra-large bath-sheets slung over his shoulder, he padded through the darkened halls of Stark Tower, delighting in the feel of carpet under his bare feet.

The tower was a monument of luxury, and while he rarely felt like he deserved to even set foot in it, he knew he’d done a damn fine job that day and saved more than a few thousand lives. For once, Steve felt like he _belonged_  among such finery that he’d never have been able to dream of back in the 40′s.

Almost in the mood to whistle, he leaned against the side of the elevator, the piped in classical music squashing his urge to make a noise.  
  
The doors opened with a soft chime, and he heard FRIDAY’s muted farewell, wishing him a good evening.  
  
Evening, he thought with a snort. It was half past two in the morning. Still, he raised a hand in a casual wave, knowing that FRIDAY would see it, no matter which direction he flapped his fingers.  
  
He picked up his pace as the hot scent of salt water hit his nose, tingling in the back of his throat, and the pure need to be _alone_  washed over him.  
  
Steve nearly groaned as he wasn’t half-way down the hall and his hearing picked up the sound of someone splashing in the pool. Instantly his good mood evaporated, and he had half a mind to head back down to his apartment and just drown himself in his bath-tub instead.

An enormous splash made him pause in his almost-retreat, however, and he frowned. There was a sound like flailing... and a gasp of air. His pulse thudded in his ears as he raced down the hall, convinced that whomever was swimming had actually gotten themselves into trouble.

What he saw as he entered onto the sweltering pool deck had his feet skidding over the slick tile.

“ _Ohfuck_ ,” Darcy said, lifting a hand to her mouth, staring at him just like he was staring at her.

Staring at her not because he’d been clinging to a torch over her for the past, say, twelve months _hahaniceonerogerstrythreeyears,_  no... no he was staring at her not because her top half was barely covered in a white crop top that melted over her skin... no.

No he was staring at her because her bottom half flitted in the warm, salt-water, the colours of her _fins_  glittering just under the surface. Purples. Purples, and hints of red, and even a dash of black-green when she rolled over and sank down, up to her nose. Her hair floated along the water, dark tendrils, and her blue eyes narrowed balefully at him.  
  
Oh fuck, indeed.

“What...?” he asked/stated, and gulped in a lungful of the sweet, salt-air around them. His brain pinwheeled for a moment and then he blurted out- “ _Issthatacosplay_?” without a pause between words.

Cosplay. It had to be a costume. She and Jane were always getting all glittered up and heading out to comic cons or whatever the kids these days were doing that wasn’t Stark science fairs.

He knew the word cosplay. He didn’t think it was, because he could swear that the mermaid half of her (it... it was a mermaid, right? He was allowed to call her that. Right? He wasn’t... accidentally oppressing her with that terminology? He was still struggling to catch up on third wave feminism.) was firmly attached to the human top of half of her.

Darcy’s eyebrows rose up in surprise and she let out a snort of laughter as she rose up out of the water. Her arms crossed over her breasts self-consciously, although he wanted to assure her that his eyes were firmly stuck on the fact _she had fish parts_  and not so much on the rosy-soft pink of her nipples showing through the transparent fabric.

Although... he’d noticed the fabric. And the nipples.

Fuck. What was even...

“Alright, you caught me, I’m a monster, just like... can you give me a twenty-four hour head start before you come after me with the rest of your band of merry mermaid-murdering super friends?” Darcy’s words may have been sharp, but there was a hint of very real, very misplaced fear in her voice. That’s when he noticed her fingers trembling as they gripped her upper arms, and her eyes were wet... not from the water.

“Head-start?” he asked, dumbfounded. “Darcy...”

She tossed her head, some of her hair following the movement, the rest sticking to her shoulders.

“I’m a _siren_ , we’re not the greatest fish in the sea. We lure people out to their deaths and-”

“Hold up,” he said, lifting his hand to stall the flow of information. “Too much... back up for a moment. Can we just.. take a breath?”

She stared at him in disbelief, the delicate, translucent tips of her fins shivering just under the water and making it ripple.

“I’m going to change back,” she said cautiously, looking as if she might bolt, but there was no way she’d out-run him on land if she tried and as powerful as her tail looked, there wasn’t any way for her to swim out of her current predicament. “Could you... look away?” Her face tilted down and to the side, her arms hugging herself even tighter.

“No, I don’t think so,” he answered her. He didn’t trust her to bolt if he did look away, or... or do something stupid. She was looking at the tall, glass windows that walled the pool in with something that was too close to longing for his comfort. “Hey...” he took a step towards the edge of the pool, and when she didn’t move, he took another. “I’m just gonna...”

He slipped down, kneeling at the edge of the water, and then slid his feet into it, sitting on the side.

She sank down low, down to her chin, her tail curling under her, and behind, like she was trying to hide from him.

“Darcy, it’s okay,” he said gently, “whatever’s got you scared, whatever you’re thinking? I can guarantee it’s not gonna happen.”

“But we _kill_  people, Steve,” she said, her voice rough, and now the wet of her eyes was slipping down over her cheeks. Christ, this was a mess.

“When was the last time you killed anyone,?” he asked, more boldly than he felt, because he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer. Her lips parted, then pressed tight together. She lifted her eyes properly to meet his.

“Never,” she answered.

“Then what’s this _we_  you keep talking about. Seems more like a them from where I’m sitting,” he murmured softly. She glanced away and then straigthened her shoulders with a huff.

“You’re not freaked out?” she asked. He let out an amused noise and then quelled it when she glared at him.

“I might owe Fury another ten bucks...” he said with a shrug, and then glanced down at where her tail flashed and glittered under the water. His fingers itched to draw it, and he was reminded he’d dropped his sketchpad and towel back in the hallway.

“So, uh...” he gestured at her tail as he fumbled for the right words for it.

“You seen the Little Mermaid?” she asked. He felt his cheeks go pink. She smirked. “Okay you have. Well it’s nothing like that. Okay? I’m not a princess, and my daddy isn’t a king with a big gold pitchfork. I’m just... yeah... my people, my family, aren’t the greatest, so I thought I’d take my chances with the land-walkers for a bit.”

“How’s that working out for you?” he asked, a million other questions crowding his mind. She sighed, looking away for a moment, then back at him.

“Well... I guess that kinda depends on you now, doesn’t it Rogers?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mind the rating upgrade.

The worst part about the whole thing? He had never realized how _strong_ Darcy was. He could feel it now, the muscle under the skin on her back shifting under his fingers. There was just a feeling of strength in her as he sank down into the hot water, pinning her to the side of the pool. The curve of her tail pressed against his hip, warm and heavy. There was a thickness to her body in this form that made him almost - _almost_ \- feel small, and when he felt the flutter of her fins brushing his ankles, he was certain she could wrap around him and drown him if she’d really wanted.

_We kill people, Steve._

That’s what she’d said. He believed it, but he wasn’t afraid of her as he placed open-mouthed kisses down the side of her neck. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and a soft whimper fell from her lips when he found a sensitive place along her collarbone, just above where the water-line lapped at her skin.

“You like that?” he asked; even though he knew the answer he wanted to hear her say it. A shiver rippled through her tail and it curled tight around his knee, tugging him in closer.

“Mouth, busy,” she urged him, and he chuckled when her fingers pressed hard, and insistent, into the hollow at the base of his skull.

“Whatever you want,” he replied, then pulled at her cropped shirt, tugging the neckline down to expose one breast. Darcy sighed, dropping her head back against the side of the pool, and nearly melted in his grip when his mouth closed over one nipple.

“So good,” she said, sounding half-drunk, and he was amused at the way her tail flexed and curled around his leg unconsciously. It should have been weird, all of it, the whole thing- the fact he was making out with a creature that his mama had scared him with stories at bedtime, but it wasn’t. She was warm, a perfect armful, the rump of her tail sitting in his hand and squirming when he squeezed.

His fingers slipped under a few scales, flat, dull-edged things, and she hissed in pain, her eyes popping open.

“Ow!”

“Uh, sorry,” he said, fumbling to move his hand. Darcy wrinkled her nose at him, and he got a sense of the power in her, not just from her physical attributes, but the feeling over _otherness_ that emanated from her washing over him.

“How’d you like it if I pulled back one of your fingernails,” she said, but it was less of a grumble, and more of a sigh when he rubbed his hand over her… ass? Did he still call it an ass? Christ, he had no idea. “S’okay. You’re cute. I forgive you.” She kissed him, the salt-water clinging to her lips, briny and bitter.

He chased the taste of it with his tongue, and groaned when she pulled him even closer. The frills on her fins that edged along the end of her tail brushed over his skin as she twined around his legs.

“Cute, huh?” he asked, his brain reaching for words that made sense. He was so _warm_ , basking in the heat of the salt-water, and her own body’s heat. Normally he ran hot, hotter than any woman he’d ever been with, but Darcy was equally warm, if not more so than even he was.

“So cute,” she murmured as she kissed him again, moaning as she opened her mouth on his, her arms pressing sharply into the planes of his shoulders and forcing him down into the water. Her eyes flashed, from blue to an almost green-gold for a moment and she shuddered against him.

He decided right then and there that he was gonna do whatever it took to make her eyes go that colour again.

“Here, let me-” he broke off as his arm curled around her waist, his other running down the length of her hip, and onto her tail. She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder as he stroked through the frilly, soft frills that demarcated her transition from woman into sea creature. They were pliable, surprisingly resilient, and she shivered when he petted them.

“Uhm,” she said, burying her face in the crook of his shoulders when he stroked them again, trailing down the slight indent that marked her tail at the front, almost as if she had legs encased underneath the stiff scales and that’s where they met.

“What?” he asked, feeling slightly nervous that he was making her uncomfortable. “Is it…. Not good?” His hand slipped over the soft fins again, and Darcy reacted with a low groan and a roll of her hips.

“Ah, no, it’s great, just right- right there. Please. Your fingers…” she trailed off as he stroked through her fins again, his fingers sinking into them- heat blossomed against his hand and he realized with a heavy blush just what exactly he was touching.

So apparently there were more similarities between humans and sirens than he had thought. The damp, wet heat against his fingers was silky-slippery, and he stroked it again, feeling the fins, that guarded her most intimate place, shiver. It didn’t seem right, referring to it as he’d normally do, with crude words, because the moment with her was magical and sweet, and she was shuddering with each long swipe of his fingers.

“You alright?” he asked, unable to keep the husky tone of want out of his voice as he watched her take her lower lip between her teeth. He could feel the clenching, begging muscles just at the edge of his finger-tips, and wanted to know what it would feel like when he finally plunged them into her pussy completely instead of just teasing her like he was.

“Fuck,” was her only response, and the chuckle rose from his chest unbidden. She beat against his shoulder with one curled fist and then moaned again. “Stop teasing,” she begged. He held her closer against him, the curl of her long tail wrapped so tightly around his ankles that he was under no false impression on her strength - she could, if she’d wanted to, drown him. It wasn’t the threat of her taking his life that had him giving into her pleading though, more really the idea of making such a magnificent creature, and amazing woman as she was, shuddering and shake in his arms.

“Anything you want, Sweetheart,” he promised openly and honestly, and her eyes met his from where she rested against his shoulder. Her tongue flicked out along her lower lip and then she burst into a low moan when two of his fingers sank inside her. Her eyes fluttered shut as he curled the digits, wondering, not so idly, if everything still, uh, worked the same down there as it did on a human woman.

He gave a testing pump of his hand and her hips jerked, so he figured it was a solid _probably_.

“That good?” he asked.

“Shut up and fuck me,” she replied and he had to bite back the sharp laughter, and instead obliged her request. Slowly, though, as resilient as her body seemed, he didnt want to tear anything that wasn’t meant for rough treatment. In-two-three, curve and tap, and out on a slow drag- he did that a few times and she began to tremble. Her eyes fluttered shut when his thumb stroked along the fins that protected her slit, the scales there giving way to a slick stretch of flesh that was almost pebbled. She cried out, her voice breathy and open when he stroked her there in a slow circle with his thumb.

“There, that,” she urged him to do it again, her tail flexing around his ankles and at his knees. His blood was pumping hard in his ears, partially from the heat of the water around him but mostly from watching the girl, _siren_ , in his arms come undone. Still he continued his steady assault on her senses, teasing her with long, drawn-out thrusts of his fingers until her cries had melted into something lower, darker.

Her voice was changing, and he felt gooseflesh raise on his arms at the sound of it. There was something almost musical in her gasping sobs, a croak, that made him want to cling to her tighter, do whatever it was she asked of him- he’d do anything, _anything_ , so long as she commanded it of him because he was hers, her creature, and she was everything to him-

“Steve,” Darcy’s breath caught in her throat and the thrall on him was broken. She thrashed in his arms, water splashing up along his neck, under his jaw, as she shuddered and came hard in his grip. His fingers slipped from her body’s embrace by virtue of her strength being too much to reckon with, and he nearly bumped his head on the side of the pool before she managed to calm down, breathing hard against his chest, her mouth kissing and sucking at the side of his neck.

What the hell had just happened? A curl of fear was tangled around the base of his spine, and the erection that had pressed insistently against her scaly hip was flagging. Still, as she looked up at him, her hair sticking to her skin in dark rivuleting clumps, he managed a smile. He brushed her long bangs back away from her face and gave her a tender kiss.

She moaned and then flopped against him, wriggling a bit.

“Wow, you’re... wow,” was all she said. A few moments passed and she wriggled again, shooting him a coy look. “Did you want to…” her hip nudged against his crotch and he let out a loose, weak chuckle.

“I’m good,” he lied, cupping her chin in one hand. “Seein’ you like that, Doll, well… satisfied me in a way I didn’t think was possible,” he lied again, feeling the daggers of his words pricking his heart. A blush danced across her cheeks and she smiled, so shy and open that he felt as if he were the monster she claimed she was.

“You’re so sweet,” she mumbled, then nosed against his neck. “Okay. I’m super… tired, and also hungry. Do you think we could order sushi and hang out in your room tonight?”

An unfamiilar feeling, raw fear with no bravery to overcome it, branched out from his solar plexus, sprawling through his body unbidden.

“I got early training with Buck,” he said, “but rain-check?”

Sister Mary-Elise at the 3rd street Chapel would be rolling in her grave to hear all the untruths he was telling that night. Darcy bit her lip, looked a bit disappointed, but then smiled.

“Ok. How about brunch after? Chicken and waffles?”

He knew he couldn’t turn her down, or risk making it seem like something was wrong.

“Sure,” he said, before pulling away. “Let me get a towel.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cause you cutiepies asked so nicely for another chapter.

_ Clink. _

_ Clink. _

_ Rattle. _

_ Click. _

“So what part of  _ don’t defile my fucking pool with your fucking _ did you not understand in the orientation, Rogers?”

Steve looked up from where he was putting away clean dishes in the common room. Tony stood at the other end of the kitchen island, a frown affixed to his face, and that little line between his eyebrows all shadowy.

“I-”

“Like, I get it, cause if I had a chance to fuck a sea creature, I’d probably do it, but  _ not in a pool. _ ” Tony tilted his nose up in the air. “I nearly swallowed a bandaid in there last week. Is nothing sacred?”

Steve coughed hard.

“Uh-”

“When were you going to tell us that Tits McGee was also packing fins. She didn’t put it on her intake form, so I’m guessing it’s a dark secret,” Tony rambled on, although he sounded less and less mad about the dirty, backhanded finger-fucking Steve had given Darcy in the pool and more curious as to what she was.

“Well?” Tony raised an eyebrow at Steve, waiting for him to talk.

“I-”

“I’m waiting.”

“Let me  _ speak _ , dammit,” Steve snapped finally, setting down a dish too hard and wincing when it cracked in half on the shelf. Tony cleared his throat and looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. “She says she’s a siren, and that she’s trying things out as a human right now.”

“Well that sounds perfectly abnormal, but about par for the course with us. Alright. So you got a fish-kink?”

“Tony!”

“I’m not judging. It does explain the copious amounts of sushi she orders every Friday night. Is that right? Isn’t that sort of like cannibalism?”

“Tony,” Steve groaned, and fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Tony had been teasing him over that bad habit, and Steve didn’t want to give the other man any extra ammunition. “Just don’t say anything to her.”

“Why?”

“Do you really have to ask,” Steve sighed the words out and glared at his friend. Tony bit his lip and then chuckled, nervously.

“You think she might bite me with her shark teeth?”

“She doesn’t have shark teeth!”

Tony held up his hands.

“Whatever you say. Just maybe careful with her chompers around ol’ Glory down there,” he said with a swoop of his fingers toward Steve’s crotch.

Lord almighty, Steve wasn’t sure his face would ever return to it’s normal pale colour, after the flood of red that had invaded his cheeks.

“Tony-”

“I’ll leave you and your fish called Darcy alone, but stop fucking my pool. It’s gross. And I’m mad I didn’t think of it first.” Tony waggled a finger at him and then turned on his heel, leaving as abruptly as he’d arrived.

 

***

 

“Did you pick this for me?” Darcy looked up at him, her liquid blue eyes flashing gold as he slid onto the couch beside her.

“The Blue Planet? A little. Maybe,” he smiled, setting down the tray of sushi she’d begged him to order from the joint around the corner. “Three orders of tuna sashimi, and four of the salmon. Then there’s my order,” he teased. “You eat more than I do.”

“Only fish,” she said. “Burgers are great and all, but I saw you plow through three of them at that summer barbeque.” She reached eagerly for the chopsticks and the first few pieces of gem-coloured sushi slipped down her throat. She swallowed with a contented sigh, then snuggled up to him.

He was trying to put what happened in the pool behind him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and studiously did  _ not _ think about the timbre of her voice, or the way he’d have murdered Bucky for her, right then and there.

“Oh my blog I love food,” she groaned ten minutes later, the demolished remains of their dinner in front of them, and a hand on her food baby that lurked under the tight, daring red tank-top that hugged her curves.

“Well everybody needs someone to love them,” Steve said, relaxing as she nuzzled into the crook of his shoulder. “This show making you hungry?”

“Nah. It’s like grocery shopping. Just fill up before you go and you won’t panic-buy frozen haddock or whatever,” Darcy said with a little yawn, and then a happy little purr as she wriggled her fingers under the hem of his shirt. “I am kinda feeling like, hmm, hungry for somethin’ else though…..” She shot a look up at him, pure mischief, that turned his insides molten. Her fingers grazed along the tight muscles of his abdomen and he exhaled.

“Hey now,” he murmured. “Not so soon after eating.”

“I’m not going to get a cramp and drown. Neither are you.” She was climbing into his lap, her arms ringing around his neck. He had to look up at her from the angle they were sitting, and he shivered, remembering the feel of her strong tail wrapping around him, the crack of her voice as it  _ called _ to him to obey, to heed her every word-

“Steve?” Darcy broke through the sudden flash of a nightmare where the water came up over his head and she dragged him under. He grunted and pulled back, grabbing her wrist as she sought to work her fingers into the hem of his jeans.

“I-”

What could he say?

_ You terrify me. _

_ Did you almost kill me? _

_ You could kill me. _

“Steve?” Darcy sounded uncertain, almost sad, her voice folded down and bent. She pulled back.

“I just think we’re going a little fast,” he lied, breathing out hard as her face crumpled, and her shoulders deflated. “Let’s just… enjoy this.”

“Oh, uh, kay.” She shifted her weight, then slipped off his thighs, settling down beside him. His heart was thumping in his chest, jumping into his throat and making him feel like he was choking on each breath that he inhaled.

The show rolled on, and Darcy slowly relaxed, her breathing evening out and turning heavy as she fell asleep.

Steve felt like an ass. He’d been running at full speed right along beside her, and hell, he’d faced down  _ scarier _ than a little mermaid named Darcy in his life. So what was going on in his head? He looked down at the woman, her arms curled around a throw pillow, her cheek nestled against her dark, nut-brown hair.

He needed to get his shit sorted.

Before she sorted it for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 <3 <3 thank you for the comments it was very helpful in writing this next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

She was whippet-fast under the water. Steve sat on the edge, his legs dangling in the pool as Darcy glimmered just beneath the surface. She, who was so clumsy on land, turned, and arced, her tail flashing, her scales a blur of glitter. He itched to draw her, but she was moving too quickly.

She broke the surface, water foaming around her shoulders, and she smiled at him.

“Come in, it’s perfect,” she said with a happy sigh, floating on her back, her fins giving a delighted little wiggle.

“I’m all in my shirt,” he replied, tugging at the hem of the white cotton. Darcy rolled her eyes and slipped through the water over to him. Her hair was plastered to her head, pluming around her shoulders as it floated on the surface. Her lips were still ruby-red, despite the water, and he wondered if that was just her natural coloring, or if she had some sort of that fancy water-proof lipstick he was forever picking up for Natasha at the pharmacy.

She fluttered her eyelashes at him and his heart melted. She was so beautiful, mystical and at the same time entirely down to earth. Her fingers wrapped around his knees and she pulled herself up with a flutter of her tail, until she could steal a kiss from him.

He held her close, her wet skin soaking through his shirt. A flood of arousal grew, warming his groin, and she heaved herself up onto the pool edge beside him, the curve of her tail swirling around his legs.

Panic chased and hammered at his brain. He jerked back and she stared at him, eyes wide.

“Steve?” she asked.

He scrambled to his feet, scraping his legs on the tile.

“I gotta-” he muttered, and then walked toward the door, the shaking feeling inside of him growing until it whited out his hearing. The door. He had to get to the door.

He burst out of the misty room, the cool air of the hallway filling his lungs as he gasped for air, stumbling into the wall. The water would close over his head, blurring his vision, and he’d hear nothing but his heart beating, beating, beating-

“Steve?” Bucky’s voice broke through the mindless panic, and Steve gasped, grabbing for his best friend. “Stevie, what the fuck?” Bucky staggered under Steve’s weight as Steve clung to him, arms wrapping around Bucky’s neck tight.

The wet slap of feet sounded off, and Steve turned. Darcy stood there, towel wrapped around her waist, human legs curved and bare, dripping with water. A concerned expression was on her face.

“What happened?” Bucky asked, his voice sounding water-logged and echo-y. Steve tried to find his tongue, but couldn’t.

“I think- something about the-” Darcy’s voice faded in and out and Steve sagged. Bucky’s surprised shout followed him down into the darkness.

 

“Fuck-a-doodle-doo, you’re awake.”

Steve blinked. Bucky was looming over him, looking like he was hiding relieve behind a cavalier attitude. Behind him, Darcy stood, wringing her hands. Steve coughed, clearing his throat.

“What-”

“You fainted, like one of those maidens in the movies we used to watch. Just like a wilting lily,” Bucky teased, but his tone was gentle. Steve sat up. He was in his room, on the bed, skin dry, and a blanket pulled up to his waist.

“You okay?” Darcy asked, coming forward. She was dressed now, properly, black leggings that clung to her like a second skin, and one of his t-shirts that stretched hard across her breasts.

Steve let out a shaking breath.

“I think I have a problem,” he said. Bucky let out a snort of laughter.

“Which one?” Bucky asked and Darcy gave him a small shove.

“Leave my guy alone,” she said, before sitting on the edge of the bed. “Steve, can we talk?”

“That’s my cue.” Bucky squeezed Darcy’s shoulder affectionately. “Don’t break him,” he said before giving Steve a hard look. “Don’t lie about your feelings.” He was gone after that, bedroom door shutting behind him.

Darcy bit her lip and swallowed hard.

“Steve,” she started then stare down at her hands. “It’s okay. It’s not like this is something you asked for.” Her eyes slipped up to meet his, and his throat went tight when he saw they were wet, tears clinging to the lashes. “Most humans wouldn’t ever have been as accepting of me as you’ve been. I just want you to know, I don’t have any hard feelings about it.”

_ Wait, what? _

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t-

She was standing up, shifting her weight back and forth.

“It was fun,” she said, hitching her shoulder, stepping back away from him. “Thanks for making me feel normal for awhile.”

_ No. No- _

He opened his mouth and she shook her head hard, biting out a hard laugh that hurt to hear.

“Go find yourself a normal girl to have superbabies with, not someone who turns into a fish, kay? I’ll promise not to say anything at the wedding.”

The wire around his chest squeezed tight and he finally gasped out,

“That’s not what I want,” he said, his voice funny in his own ears. She wasn’t, she couldn’t leave him.

Darcy blinked hard.

“Actions speak louder than words, Steve.” Her lips pressed together in a thin line, going bloodless and pale for a quick second. “Just, yeah. It’s been real whatever.” She turned on her heel and followed Bucky’s path as Steve sat there, like an idiot, his hands limp on the blanket. What had happened?

 

“You done goofed,” Clint grunted, arms straining under the weights.

“Consequences will never be the same,” Natasha added, spotting him.

Steve glared at his best friends, and folded his arms over his chest.

“Ah, they are quote the tale of Jessie Slaughter, the young child whom the internet destroyed,” Thor added. “I understood the reference.” He blinked owlishly at Steve, before turning to where he was spotting Bucky on the weights as well.

“You guys are about as helpful-”

“As a mermaid in the desert?” Bucky asked, making the rest of the assholes laugh.

“She dumped your ass,” Clint said as he sat up. “She wasn’t having any of your weird Irish guilt complex interfere in her life and she wasn’t waiting around. She’s a modern girl, and didn’t have time to babysit you through your own personal growth.”

“So what do I do?” Steve asked, thoroughly miserable.

“Counseling,” Natasha said.

“Woo her,” Thor offered, not helpfully.

“Vibrators and flavored lube,” Clint added.

“Flowers and a night at the pictures,” Bucky said, glaring at the rest of them. “Far away from a pool or any body of water that’s clearly triggering your brain-meat to go squirrely.”

“What happens when she gets wet? Does he run away when that happens?” Clint mused, and then yelped when both Thor and Natasha cuffed him on the head. Steve growled and tried to think how he even dared approach Darcy. Sam, when asked, had told him to fuck off.

There were no easy solutions.

He just knew he had to convince Darcy he wasn’t terrified of the other half of herself.

First he had to figure out how to tell that lie to himself, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 thank you for leaving nice comments


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